


Invitations

by clipper782



Category: Gravity Falls
Genre: Birthday, Family, Gen, Implied Relationships
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-15
Updated: 2015-09-15
Packaged: 2018-04-20 22:12:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,415
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4804145
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/clipper782/pseuds/clipper782
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Mabel is working on making invitations for everyone--yes everyone-- to come to her and Dipper's birthday party.</p>
<p>Stanford Pines has a lot on his mind.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Invitations

**Author's Note:**

> Stanford POV. Mentions of one-sided Wendip. No real explicit romance though. Starts off silly, ends up slightly less silly.

"Just because he's evil doesn't mean he can't come to our birthday party."

"Actually, I'm pretty sure it does."

It was too early in the morning for this. Stanley had already become a professional, learned to tune the younger Pines twins out. Ford hadn't quite gotten to that point yet. He sighed. He was awake now, time to make the best of it.

"So what are you two fighting about?" Ford asked, turning on the coffee maker.

"Mabel wants to invite Bill Cipher to our birthday party!"

Ford spun around to face the children so fast he almost knocked over the coffee pot. Almost. "Absolutely not!" 

"See, Grunkle Ford agrees with me." Dipper said with finality.

"We've only just gotten ourselves away from Bill Cipher, why on Earth would you want to invite him into the shack?" Ford had been enjoying nights without the frequent visits to the dreamscape. Without Bill Cipher.

"We'd have the party outside." Mabel said, as if this was the most obvious thing in the world. "If we want this to be the best birthday ever--which we do--then we have to invite everyone we know. That includes villains who have made our lives miserable. It happens in all the stories. The villains have a good time with the heroes and then they become good guys."

"Did you invite Gideon?" Dipper asked, eyes narrowing towards his sister.

"As a matter of fact I did." She leaned in with a stage whisper, "I'm going to try setting him up with Candy."

"Mabel!"

"Bill Cipher is not coming anywhere near the Mystery Shack and you aren't going anywhere near him!" Ford cut in, having heard enough from the younger twins. Had he and Stanley been that rambunctious when they were young? Probably. He shook his head, took his coffee, and retreated to his lab just as Stanley entered the kitchen. He gave his brother no more than a quick nod of acknowledgement.

Ford went to the second floor.

*

"It's funny you think I would even need an invitation to crash Shooting Star and Pine Tree's dumb party, Sixer!"

Ford grumbled under his breath, refusing to acknowledge the small dream demon. "I knew I should have made a stronger pot of coffee. I have important things to be doing right now."

"Can't help getting old, Sixer! Just enjoy your nap time with your old pal, Bill Cipher!" The triangle floated in front of his vision, so Stanford turned away. He willed himself to wake up.

"Well I'm excited for the big day! Tell Shooting Star I want a pink invitation! No, Yellow!"

Wakeupwakeupwakeup--

Ford jolted upright at his desk. He downed the remainder of his coffee and made to go upstairs for a second cup. He brought his work with him. If nothing else, Dipper and Mabel would keep him awake. He tried not to think about what it meant that Bill Cipher had once again made it into his dream.

*

"I'm making Gideon's invitation blue, like that suit he always wears, and his magic jewel. Do you think they will let him out of actual adult prison for the party?" Mabel was gluing something to a blue paper. Both she and the paper were covered in glitter.

"Tell you what, kid," Ford heard his brother say, "If it means so much to you, I'll break the little brat out myself."

"Yeah!"

Dipper was still sitting at the table, frowning into his orange juice. He looked up at Ford as he entered. "Mabel's gone too far, Grunkle Ford." You would think Mabel was doing something a lot more sinister than making party invitations for undesirables.

"Mabel is a very... forgiving person." Ford replied, refilling his coffee mug and sitting down beside his nephew. "She just wants the two of you to have the best birthday possible." He chuckled, mostly to himself. "You only turn thirteen once. It is a big age. You're almost a teenager."

Dipper perked up, seemingly having forgotten what he was moping about. "Since I'm going to be a teenager, do you think Wendy might want to go out with me?"

Ford took a long drink from his coffee. He didn't answer. Dipper resumed his moping.

*

"Bill's invitation is a yellow triangle. Because _he_ is a yellow triangle! Clever isn't it."

"Sure Mabel."

Ford was on his third cup of coffee at this point. Yellow was the colour Bill had asked for right? He couldn't say that though, without admitting he spoke to Bill. Of course it didn't matter because, "You are not inviting Bill!"

"Outside party, remember, Grunkle Ford?" Mabel put the yellow triangle on her steadily growing stack. "Oh, but how will I get it to him?"

"Bill doesn't truly exist in our world, but he can see through any image of himself--"

"So I'll just put an eye on the invitation! Thanks Grunkle Ford!"

Why was he encouraging this?

*

"Wow, Sixer, I can't believe you are encouraging this."

Ford jumped up and spun around. It was only Stanley. He pushed Stanley's glasses up and looked in his pupils. Yes, it was Stanley.

"What do you mean?" Ford asked.

"Mabel told me you were helping her with her invitations? You told her how to invite demons to a party?"

"You offered to break _Gideon_ out of prison."

Stanley shrugged, "Hey it's a once in a lifetime thing." He sat down on his chair. "These kids deserve the best birthday they can get. And if Mabel's decided that involves people who are trying to destroy us, well I'll just have to make sure I'm there to stop them if they try anything."

Ford couldn't argue with that. Or he could, but he didn't want to. He sat next to his brother. It was a pleasant sort of companionship they had in that moment. Ford didn't want to ruin it.

*

Pacifica's invitation was elaborate. It had lace and glitter and cursive writing with a gel pen. It was a bit lighter on the stickers than some of the other ones, but Mabel had included a detailed doodle of herself and Pacifica holding hands, and she had cut a pattern into the sides.

"Pacifica used to be my enemy too, you know." Mabel said to Ford, as he looked over the purple card. 

"And you're friends now?" Ford guessed.

"We have an understanding now." 

*

Ford thought he saw his brother tear up when Mabel gave him his invitation, but that may have been a trick of the light. He tried to look over to see what was on the invitation, but Stanley had crumpled it into his pocket too quickly for him to see.

"Don't worry Grunkle Ford, you will get one too!"

*

Someone had tampered with the unicorn hair outlining the shack. Keeping them safe. Bill was the only possible suspect, but he must have been possessing someone... Who was it? Who had made a deal with Bill?

Ford fixed the barrier and went back inside for his fourth cup of coffee.

*

Dipper was the one to bring him his invitation.

"I made it," he said. "Mabel said I should, since you're practically my idol and all that." Dipper's face went red and he looked away. "That's what Mabel said anyway, It's not-it isn't what I said."

"I... Thank you, Dipper." It was a simple design, but Dipper had included the symbol from his journals, and even written part of it in his own code.

He smiled. Dipper was a good kid. He worried about him, sometimes, but he would keep the the boy safe. Dipper and Mabel both.

He really needed to tell Stanley more about what was going on.

*

The invitations were delivered. Mabel had started work on her new birthday sweater. Dipper was reading one of his kid mystery books. Stanley was watching a rerun of some old sitcom. Ford sat with him drinking chamomile tea. He had had too much coffee that day. He wasn't going to sleep than night.

Ford thought about the younger twins. Turning thirteen. He wondered if the teenage years would be as big a shock as they had been to him and Stanley. He wondered if they too would end up driven apart. He thought about Bill Cipher and Fiddleford and the end of the world. He thought about thirty years spent outside of his home dimension. 

"Stanley?" He asked, breaking the silence. 

"Yeah?" His brother seemed surprised, as he turned away from his program.

"I think we need to talk..."


End file.
